


i don't like a gold rush

by IzzieBee



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Season 3 rewrite, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:09:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28492917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IzzieBee/pseuds/IzzieBee
Summary: Faith came onto the scene like a bottle rocket thrown down an alleyway, like, you didn’t realize how dark everything was until your eyes were forced to adjust to the light.ORWhat if Buffy killed Angel at the end of season 2? What if she didn't run away to L.A.? What if Buffy and Faith had a chance to let each other in?What would happen?
Relationships: Buffy/Angel (past), Faith Lehane/Buffy Summers
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48





	i don't like a gold rush

**Author's Note:**

> I started watching this show at 12 years old, and I always was a little in love with Buffy. Rewatching it this year, I fell for Faith. I feel like in a different world, these two could have really loved each other.

When Buffy killed her ex-boyfriend, stopping the apocalypse in the process, she was pretty sure she was supposed to feel… more. 

Buffy had looked at the sword, covered in blood that was like black lacquer with a horrifying mix of fascination and disgust. She dropped it, determined to never touch a sword again, and tried to feel something more than relief and a dull dark ache that she knew wasn’t physical.

(Her bones ached, and her skin stung, and she could only imagine what she would have been feeling if it wasn’t slayer blood in her veins). 

The truth of it was, Angel died long before Angelus did. 

Angelus died and that’s who she killed (she had a part in killing Angel, but she pushed that to the side; there was only so much a girl could deal with in one day). Angel had been dead, Buffy reasoned as she walked away dropping the sword in her wake, long before she stuck a sword into Angelus’s body. That is why she was numb to the worst thing she had ever done. 

But the numb didn’t last long, and wave after wave of pain hit her, both crushing and sharp. 

Buffy was kicked out of school, and it wasn’t like she loved Bio, but still it still stung. Her mother told her not to bother coming back home, and the memory was like salt in a wound, especially the sight of a sniffling Dawn and the base of the stairs trying to stop her from leaving.

And Kendra-

Kendra was dead; her righteousness, her kindness, her fire she never got to use, snuffed out violently and carelessly.  
She was just a girl. 

That was the issue with slayers, wasn’t it? They didn’t get to stay ‘just girls’ for long. Buffy killed Angel, and now there was no way to get him back, to get back the person who had kept her in thrall, who made her feel greater depths than anyone else ever had. The pain threatened to consume her. 

Running suddenly felt like the only option. 

Buffy made it as far as the bus station, ticket in hand to L.A., when she stopped. 

She couldn’t just leave. 

What would Dawn say? All knobby knees, annoying whining and puppy dog eyes. There was no one in her life that she loved or hated more. She couldn’t make her cry (anymore than she already had). 

How could she ever face Giles if she ran away? His steady presence, quiet smiles. She missed her father less and less and she tried not to make assumptions that would break her heart in the end. 

How could she look Xander, Willow, hell, even Cordelia in the eye? Her friends who she had dragged into a dangerous, brutal world. A world they could be blissfully ignorant if she never moved to Sunnydale. Now they would see danger in every dark corner, and she wouldn’t be there to keep them safe.

What would she say, slinking back home in a few weeks or months: 

“Sorry everyone, I know I am the only slayer left and Sunnydale is the Hellmouth, but it got a bit too hard. I just had to bounce. You understand.” 

They wouldn’t, couldn’t understand. 

She turned on her heel and went home. As she unpacked her Mom and Dawn flanked either side of the door and watched Buffy put away her clothes, carefully folding the clothes that had been carelessly tossed in a duffle bag. 

They didn’t say anything, and for that she was grateful. 

Well almost nothing. 

“Willow and Xander stopped by to invite you to The Bronze,” Dawn said breathlessly, ignoring the daggers their mother was throwing at her, “Can I come?”

“No.” Buffy said, suppressing a smile as Dawn’s voice turned to a high pitch whine, not looking up from the pile of clothes strewn across her bed.

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Buffy went to see Giles a few days later. The barely healing bruises and cuts covering every bit of visible skin made her hate Angelus more than she thought possible. So much it made her hate Angel. 

Almost. 

Giles was so… Careful. He talked around what happened, everything was a euphemism, a little rosier then the truth. Buffy studied him, while he looked pointedly away. 

“I almost ran away,” Buffy paused, before adding, “To L.A.”

Giles put down the tea kettle, and for the first time in days, weeks probably, really looked at Buffy. 

“I didn't,” Buffy murmured, her voice too steely to be soft, “But I need this summer to be. I just need a break.”

“Buffy-”

“I’m the Slayer,” Her voice got higher and sharper, “I know. And I’ll patrol and train, but I need time to be seventeen years old or I am going to end up running again. I just will.”

There was a long pause. 

“All right,” Giles said, is voice clipped, “That’s fine.”

“Fine,” Buffy echoed, “Just fine.” 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

It was her first summer with Willow and Xander, which meant it was her first summer with Oz and Cordelia. They were a strange group, to be sure. Two deliriously in love couples and a broken hearted former homecoming queen/current slayer. 

Strange wasn’t bad though. 

She still patrolled, though Giles had eased up on the hours. It had been an eerily quiet few months after all, aided by the late sunset, and early sunrise. When she patrolled she would stake a few vampires and go home, hardly having to think at all and usually with one or more of the ‘Scooby Gang’ following behind. 

Cordelia was still, well, Cordelia, but she had softened around the edges a bit. She also had a level of rage that was disconcerting, but helpful on the few times she had actually encountered a vampire. Oz, was actually a relief. He was so quiet Buffy looked forward to him tagging along with her potrols; she didn’t have to perform, and he seemed more comfortable when she retreated to her own, often uneasy, thoughts. Willow and Xander were, well, Willow and Xander. They made her feel warm and loved and safe; even Xander’s off color jokes or Willow’s constant worrying about the SATs made her more steady than not. 

Giles had slowed down their training too. She knew he was giving her space, trying not to cracky the uneasy equilibrium between them. Sometimes he looked terrified she would bolt. 

Sometimes she was sure she would. 

But Buffy didn’t, she stayed and she fought. For the first time in years, Buffy had whole sunlit days and cool summer nights to do nothing. 

Absolutely nothing. 

They piled into Oz’s van, or when Cordelia complained, two of her dad’s cars and went to the beach. Buffy settled into hazy afternoons, flipping through Cordelia’s magazines, while Willow studied for AP classes that wouldn’t start for months; while Buffy got tan, Willow burned bright red. 

Cordelia would drag Xander into the ocean, teasing him the whole way, and would scream when he picked her up, throwing her deeper into the waves. It made Buffy grin, and she was surprised when she didn’t feel more than an echo of regret, and a twinge of pain. She was actually happy for the two of them. 

She was happy for Oz and Willow, too. Their relationship was quieter, almost delicate. It seemed like a bit of wind could knock it down, but after all this time nothing had. Maybe nothing ever would. 

Buffy had never had that. Whatever was between Angel and her was not delicate or sweet or meant to last. It had consumed her, threatened to consume everything, her friends, her family. She had loved him so much, but she hadn’t loved the feeling of being loved, of loving. It was too dangerous, too painful. There had never been a future for them, not really. All there had been was a thousand different brutal endings. 

But, God, there were moments that made everything worth it. 

“Do you miss him,” Dawn asked, breaking a comfortable silence; Buffy was painting her toenails a shocking shade of pink, while Dawn flipped through magazines on their front porch. 

“Who?” Buffy asked, knowing the answer. 

Neither of them looked up from their tasks. 

“Angel.” Dawn said the name reproachfully, not that Buffy could blame her. Dawn only saw the ugliness, Angel stayed in the shadows but Angelus, well, he had made his presence known. 

“He was dead,” Buffy said, her voice almost clinical. “A long time before Angelus.”

“You didn’t-” Dawn stopped, and she could feel eyes flick towards her, and then away. The words floated in front of them. 

Kill-

Murder-

Destroy- 

“I did,” Buffy said, looking at Dawn, who was staring at the dark wood of the porch, “In every way that matters.”

“But, do you-” Miss him. That was the million dollar question, wasn’t it? 

“Yes,” Buffy said quickly, and then paused. It was true, she did miss him, but a larger part, a horrible part- “And no.”

“That’s okay.” 

She wasn’t sure if Dawn meant it was okay to miss him, or for her to no, or even if it was okay that she killed the man she had loved so much. Buffy decided to take it at face value. Dawn was only twelve after all 

As she laid awake, Buffy knew it wasn’t that simple. Dawn was twelve but she was older than her age. She had to be. 

And that was Buffy’s fault, too. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Sunnydale didn’t have a lot to do that didn’t involve virgin sacrifice and wandering around cemeteries, and they only had so much money to spend on gas, so they spent a lot of time at the Bronze. They listened to Oz’s band and trashed their competition (who were almost exclusively better than the “Dingo Ate My Baby''). Sometimes they snuck in Xander’s dad’s vodka in water bottles.

Willow would take a few sips before giggling furiously, into Oz’s neck for the rest of the night. Cordelia knew how to hold her liquor, and you could only tell she was tipsy when her words got slow as honey, and she failed to insult Xander for a good twenty minutes. Oz and Xander never drank; Oz claimed he didn’t feel anything, so what was the point, and Xander never said why, but Buffy had a sinking suspicion the answer had something to do with the man who was unwittingly supplying their alcohol. 

Buffy only drank with the rest two times that summer. The first time was after her mother had sat her down with a pile of college brochures, spread out like a fan in front of them, taking up most of the kitchen table. Buffy looked at them all nodding along, but all she could see were a dozen lives she would never lead, all across the country. 

The second time she drank was after she met Kendra’s watcher. He was a serious man with the saddest eyes she had ever seen; he visited with Giles for twenty minutes, before disappearing. The rest of the week Giles wouldn’t look at her. 

She used to drink at house parties or from spiked punches at dances. She would take a few sips and then a few more, let the buzz drag over her and then stop, no matter how much her date pushed, or her friends insisted. 

When Buffy drank that summer she didn’t stop until the world was fuzzy around the edges, and that ever present pain between her shoulder blades was numb. She would dance and flirt, and laugh dangerously low, until the rest of their friends had to drag her home. They would escort her upstairs, smiling apologetically at her mother, who would pointedly ignore Buffy’s bad decision making (she was always unfairly smug the next morning, but would hand Buffy a glass of water and ibuprofen without comment). 

She almost missed when her mother would have screamed at her, for drinking. When she still didn’t know that she was likely to be murdered before her 21st birthday, and yelled at her for detentions and flasks of vodka. 

Almost.

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Buffy had been so shattered, for so long, she got used to it. Used to the pain, the debilitating ache. As the summer dragged on, hot and unforgiving, she slowly put the pieces back together. She could glimpse in the mirror the girl she was at 15 years old before being called, before dying, before falling in love and having her heart broken in quick succession. She could see the girl who believed that everything would work out, that the world was inherently good. 

When Buffy fell asleep at night, she wasn’t scared of the nightmares. She knew their contents, and she knew how to wake up, smile and eat cereal next to Dawn and pretend to be fine. Being able to fake a smile was the first step to actually smiling. 

Right?

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

There was little fanfare re-enrolling in school. 

It helped that she spent the summer building a volunteer resume and a stack of recommendations, (only some of which Willow forged). 

Was this all? The rest of her life, Buffy wondered, as she went from class to class half in a daze. She got her vamp vacation, and now everything was back to normal. Patrols and slaying and Algebra II homework.

A long slog before she was taken out by some vampire who had a lucky night.

It made sense, she thought when she was feeling particularly morbid. Buffy had done more by 17 then most ever did. She found her calling, and stopped the apocalypse (2 3/4s times if you asked her, 1 ½ times if you asked Giles). Buffy had a great, all consuming love that had been passionate, epic, and ill advised. She had died for god sake, and survived a hell dimension besides. 

She didn’t want to die, but the idea was not so scary anymore. She wasn’t the girl in the white dress anymore. She didn’t think the world was supposed to be fair, that there was some great plan for her. She may be the chosen one, but that didn’t mean she was chosen for anything good. 

She wondered if this was what growing up felt like. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Buffy really hadn’t considered the next slayer. She had thought that maybe another slayer wouldn’t be called up. After all there was only really supposed to be one. Maybe the magic would self correct. For a few months there were two, and Buffy, for the first time, didn’t carry the mantle alone. It had been comforting, thinking of Kendra. Kendra who was righteous, a straight arrow pointing north. 

It wasn’t right, that she was here and Kendra wasn’t. 

So she didn’t think about another slayer. 

Buffy went to school, she went on patrol, and she went home. The world was turning grey, but maybe that was for the best. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Faith came onto the scene like a bottle rocket thrown down an alleyway, like, you didn’t realize how dark everything was until your eyes were forced to adjust to the light. She staked a vampire like it was second nature, and that grin was just- 

Wicked. 

“I’m Faith,” She said, a grin stretching across her face, even as the dust from the vamp hadn’t settled, “You must be the other one.”

Other one. Call her self centered, but Buffy wasn’t used to being anything besides “the one”. 

Buffy crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Where can an 18-year-old get a drink around here?” Faith looked around, tossing long dark hair over her shoulder, and the Scoobies all talked at once. 

Buffy didn’t say anything at all. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Buffy knew, the second she met her, that there was a fire in Faith, and it was dangerous. She used to have that fire, and it had threatened to burn everyone who came near. 

(Was she just jealous that Faith’s past hadn’t damaged her beyond repair?) 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Faith was everywhere. 

At school she would turn the corner and there Faith would be, walking with Giles, going back and forth about some threat on the horizon. At her house chatting idly with her Mom while Dawn pretended to ignore her. Even at the Bronze, she would spot her in some dark corner dusting a vampire or taking some conquest to the bathroom (the look on her Faith in both cases were eerily similar).

Even on the late night patrol, the sweep where the Scoobies were all safely in her bed, one time she used to be completely and blissfully alone, she would find Faith easily taking out vampires, usually with a smile on her face. . 

This time though, when she spotted Faith, halfway across the cemetery, she wasn’t winning. There were three Vampires, and they were having a really good day. 

They weren’t expecting Buffy though. 

“Faith are you okay-” Buffy said, after the dust had (literally) settled, pulling Faith off the ground. 

“Five by Five,” Faith said, like that meant something, whipping the blood from her mouth with a grin bordering on deranged. Buffy realized with a start that she knew exactly what she meant. 

Her heart was beating out of her chest, adrenalin was pumping through her system, and she might not feel good, but she definitely didn’t feel grey. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Faith didn’t have a nickname for everyone, but she did for most. She called Willow “Red”, and Giles “G” or “G-man” (much to his dismay). Cordelia was just “Cordy”, and Xander started calling her that too, a nickname that seemed to fit, now that some of her edges were sanded down. Dawn was “Moppet”, (she pretended she hated it, but her scowl always turned to a grin as soon as Faith’s back was turned). 

Buffy was just “B”. 

“B,” Faith shouted, mid roundhouse kick, “A little help over here.”

“Where to next, B?” Faith said expectantly, looking at Buffy like she had all the answers. 

“I don’t know how you can stand this school, B,” Faith drawled, rolling her eyes, as every guy in the hallway (and a good amount of the girls) eyes were glued to her. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Buffy kept looking at Faith. Dark raspberry lipstick, and combat boots. White see-through tank tops, with dark black tattoos peaking out. 

On Buffy it would have looked like a costume, on Faith it looked like- 

Well. Something different. 

Yes, Faith was striking, beautiful in that way Buffy was pretty sure she used to be. That pretty that made people's words die in their throats when she walked past. So confident, so sure, so something undefinable that people would do anything to be near it, just for a moment. As though being near that unnamable thing you could bottle it and make it yours. 

Now Buffy blended into the background. She was pretty if you noticed, but people didn’t like to. Sadness repulses, even when it belongs to a pretty girl. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

“Who was that?” Xander said, pointing at a guy in line to buy beer, who was completely ignoring the Bronze’s new band (not that she could blame him, they truly sucked), and kept throwing furtive glances at Faith. 

“Him,” Faith squints her eyes in the guy's direction, who immediately diverted his eyes, “He looks a bit familiar.” 

“You seemed pretty familiar, last Friday” Buffy said, before she stopped herself. She remembers with a pang of something unfamiliar in her stomach, Faith pinning him to the wall outside the Bronze before disappearing again through the alley, hand in hand. 

“Yah, well Guys are only good for one thing” Faith said, raising her eyes suggestively, “And even that they aren’t that good at, if you know what I mean.”

Xander spluttered, Willow looked deeply confused and Buffy hid her smile in her drink. 

“Come on B,” Faith said, swinging around to face Buffy, her chest puffed out, and her arms waving, “Like you haven’t…”

It was so crass… so over the top- 

Buffy laughed until her ribs hurt. 

For better or worse, Faith made her smile. More than that, Faith made Buffy laugh. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

“Your being such kid about this,” Faith’s voice rose, “God I never thought a slayer could be this boring-” 

“Your,” Buffy searched for a word that would incapsulate how stupid Faith had been, running heard first into a mausoleum, filled with vamps just waiting for taste of slayer blood, “Reckless.”

“Wow,” Faith said, flipping her hair behind her shoulder, “Nice comeback B. Moppet come up with that for you-”

“Dawn hates when you call her that-”

“She loves it,” Faith said, and Buffy knew she was right (asshole), “Come on, what’s this really about-” 

“You almost got us killed,” Buffy pulled her thin cardigan around her waist. She would have never worn this, on anything but a routine patrol. Of course Faith had thrown her plans out the window-

Fucking typical. 

“Just another day at the office-” Faith said, wiping the blood from her mouth. Buffy almost reached out to wipe it away, but her hand dropped instantly. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. Hell, they were not even friends they were just-

Buffy didn’t know what the hell they were. 

“Enough Faith-” 

“What B,” Faith stepped closer, and Buffy could feel her breath, too warm against her cheek, (did she run that hot too?) “You don’t like being the chosen two?” 

She paused a second to long, and she could only imagine the words that could be mined in that silence. 

“Nice,” Faith stepped away, her eyes hard now, “Buffy.” 

“It’s not that,” Buffy turned, running her hand through her hair. 

“Then what,” Faith spit out. 

“I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.” 

“Don’t pity me,” Faith laughed, and her smile was plastered on, “I’m five by five.” 

“What does that even-”

“What it means is I do what I want,” Faith said, her eyes boring into Buffy’s, like she could read every thought she had ever had, “When I want, with whoever I want. Most girls don’t get that, they walk through this world scared shitless.”

Faith stepped closer.

“Is that how you walk through the world. Scared.”

“Yes,” Buffy’s voice rose and she hated that it sounded shrill, “You should too, we don’t have an old slayers home-” 

“Well there's the difference between you and me, Princess. Not everyone grows up with dreams or grandkids and white picket fences. Some of us knew very early on they we’re going to die young.” 

Buffy wanted to say something, she should have said something. She turned away instead, trying to keep her stomach from turning. The idea of Faith, pretty in some coffin like Kendra, knocked the wind out of her. 

“Don’t worry B.” Faith murmured, and Buffy could feel her breath on her neck, “We all know who would go first. I’m reckless, right?”

“Faith-”

When Buffy turned Faith was gone. 

She wasn’t surprised. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

No one would ever mistake Faith for a dancer. Her moves were sure, powerful and chaotic like being caught in a storm. She had brutality in every step, but her smirk didn’t belie (look at her, using her SAT words) cruelty.

Kendra had been like a ballerina, each move choreographed and sure. She was never comfortable employing the rage, bubbling under the surface. 

(All slayers had rage bubbling under the surface, that was the real trick, the real con. Train these girls to die, and tell them that there is peace in that.) 

Faith was all rage, nothing kept under the surface. She almost made Rage look fun. It’s why she made the watchers nervous and why Buffy, suspected, they hadn’t sent someone to train her yet. All their books were about control and Faith wasn’t interested in the concept, which to her was as foreign and strange as letting rage consume you was for Buffy. 

Buffy wondered what she fought like. She knew Faith would understand the question, what she was really asking. 

She didn’t ask. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Buffy hated watching Oz’s cage. He was so kind, so generous with all that he had. Seeing what he went through every full moon was exhausting. Not to mention it sucked staying up so late, not that she ever fell asleep (fucking Xander, they had a new and devestating “case of the week” to deal with, maybe thanks to him falling asleep on the God Damn job). Still, usually it wasn’t so bad, she would study, and when she would get bored (usually that took about 20 minutes) she would train. She had already started on her second hour of conditioning when Faith had come, offering to take over. 

She had been so relieved, but two hours after Faith arrived, Buffy was still here. At first they were just training, sparing, really. Then they made a half assed attempt to study for Buffy’s Chem midterm, (Faith had an even shorter attention span that Buffy did). Then they just started talking. 

“You died.” Faith said, after one long, though not uncomfortable silence, “That’s why there are two of us.” 

“Well, yah,” Buffy shrugged, trying to keep her voice nonchalant, but her pulse raced, “Kendra died and that’s why there's you. But I died and that’s when Kendra was called, or whatever.” 

Faith whistled. 

“I never thought I was going to live long,” Faith let out a breathless laugh, “I always figured, you know, I would end up in prison or worse.”

Buffy couldn’t imagine it. Faith was so… much. She lit up every room she entered, to be snuffed out carelessly-

“And now?”

“I’m here,” Faith gestured around them, like that explained everything, “And if the vampires don’t kill me a demon will. Survive the demon, and then some half baked God will smite me down.”

“Still going to die young,” Buffy said, her voice low. 

“At least we will still be pretty.”

The ‘we’ sent a spark down her spine.

It was electric and sudden. 

It wasn’t unfamiliar, it was the ghost of meeting Angel in a back alley, and she could swear that smirk was lighting her up from the inside. But those feelings for Angel were just memories, tangled up and corrupted by Angelus.

This felt light, bubble gum pink and heady. 

It was a fluke. It had to be a fluke. 

“Right.” Buffy looked quickly away. 

She had been so numb for so long. She didn’t ever think-

Not again and not with this girl sitting in front of her. 

A slayer with a death wish. A slayer who wasn’t even sure she would stay in town.

(She had been so sure that Angel was it. She wouldn’t feel that way again. Sure it was depressing, to have your romantic life peak at 17, but in a sad, secret, sort of way it was comforting. She got through that she would get through anything. Only now-

Buffy replayed ‘we’ over and over again as she walked home (Faith shepherding her to the door like she needed it, and Buddy pretended she didn’t love it). ‘We’ as she got ready for bed, the routine sure and familiar. “We’ as she tried to sleep. 

Buffy didn’t fall asleep for a long time. 

✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭✭

Faith was everywhere. In her school, in her cemeteries, in her house. This wasn’t known. Now, though, Faith was in her head. A smirk, when she was trying to remember the pythagorean theorem. A peek of a dark black tattoo peeking from a sports bra while she tried to fall asleep. Most concerningly, those dark eyes when she was trying to patrol. 

Buffy tried to remember what it felt like, at the beginning, with Angel. She had wallowed in wanting him, was giddy at the thought of a crush even if it was with the undead. Now she could hardly admit to herself that she had any interest besides as co-workers with Faith. 

What was it? That Faith was a girl, that wasn’t quite it. She hadn’t ever thought she was interested in girls, but then again it did shed some light on the events of Becky Williams 13th birthday sleepover, and a certain game of spin the bottle. She had liked a vampire, for god sake, a girl was not the issue. 

Was it Faith’s relentless conquests? Maybe, then again, the 15 year old girl she was had always liked a project, the chance to convert some lothario into a sweet as pie boyfriend (hell, look at how she had tried to domesticate Angel; that worked great). 

Was it Faith’s lack of interest in her? Dubious again, her smirks and innuendo had recently slipped into nothing less that X-Rated. Still, Faith looked at sex like slaying, something to keep your adrenalin up, keep your feelings at the door. 

Buffy was so consumed by ‘maybe’ she didn’t notice Faith waltz through the door. Faith took one look at her and immediately realized there was something wrong, and the questions were coming one after another, and she wasn’t even thinking about her answers-

“What’s wrong B?”

“Homecoming, such a pain. Cordelia is being such a brat.”

“What, you want to be Queen?” Faith’s voice dipped and she could feel the octave change as the sound went down her spine. 

“No, I mean, at one point maybe-”

“Sad you don’t have a date?” Faith was staring at her, god, how did anyone vamp or otherwise focus when she started like that- 

“What, no, I mean I don’t have a date, but-”

“Why don’t we just go together,” Faith shrugged like it was the easiest thing in the world, “Two slayers, this school wouldn’t know what the hell to do with us.”

“Sure,” Buffy said before she could stop herself. 

Well, she was fucking in it now, wasn’t she?

**Author's Note:**

> Next chapter will be Faith's perspective! Please leave comments and kudos! It's hard to stay motivated when it feels like I am shouting into the void (lol). Thank's y'all!


End file.
